Photo: George Skadding/LIFE Archives
Ah, the life of a teenager. Long before the era of Facebook, texting, and clubbing, there's the hopping soda shop scene. LIFE photographer George Skadding documented the lives of Iowa high school teenagers in the late '40s. Gosh darn it! They're so wholesome!
From Teenagster:
... when I saw these LIFE Magazine photos of teen life in Des Moines, Iowa in 1947, I was pleasantly surprised to see cute sweater sets, co-ed mingling (in cars!), slumber parties and even spin the bottle. (Granted, Des Moines is “the city” in Iowa, so, there ya go.) I stand corrected! That soda shop is bumpin’.
One thing/2 we could use a little more of these days is Common Courtesy and manners. The current trend needs a correction.
I'm not trying to say there weren't the good things, everyone remembers the nostalgic stuff and touts the 50's for being the good old days. It's important to recall that the past wasn't the wholesome utopia.
The past is never better.